The present invention relates to mowers having discs driven from beneath by means of at least one transmission shaft extending beneath the discs, in the housing of such a mower. By transmission shaft there is here generally understood any transmission shaft made in one or more parts, whether or not extending in alignment with one another, being interconnected by coupling elements such as Cardan joints, sockets, gear wheels, etc. Each abovementioned transmission shaft operates one of the elements of a certain number of bevel gearings of which the other element is connected to one of the discs of the mower.
This type of machine is very simple in concept and possesses great ease of maintenance and great flexibility in use. In fact the mentioned bevel gearings are lodged in sealed gear boxes which are very easily removable after withdrawal of the said transmission shaft. These gear boxes can thus be easily exchanged in the case of accident or can be reversed through 180.degree. about the rotation axis of their disc in order to obtain a reversal of their direction of rotation for example.
the driving of the above-mentioned transmission shaft is effected on mowers of known type by means of a gear box situated at the extremity of the housing of the mower. Therefore the cutting width of these mowers is less than their total width, which under certain circumstances is not helpful to the cutting of the fodder, especially when the machine is hitched to the front of a tractor or when several machines are coupled together. In fact there is risk of a part of the housing of such a machine passing over the fodder without cutting it. Without losing the above-stated advantages, the present invention permits of remedying this drawback by proposing a machine of simple concept, of low cost and which possesses a special drive device permitting it to have a cutting width substantially equal to its overall width.